Improvement in the manufacture of wrought iron from ore, cinder



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JAMES DAVENPORT WHELPLEY AND JAooB JONES STORER, OFBOSTON,

' MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No.102,740, dated Bldg 3, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OP'WROUGHT IRON FROM ORE, (BINDER, OR

I sLA v The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all to whom these presents shall come.-

Be it known that we, JAMES DAVENPORT WHELP- LEY and JACOB J onus Stronnn, both of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvemeut in the Manufacture .of Wrought Iron from Ore, Cinder, or Slag, and in the. manipulalation thereof.

- Our process is as follows:

, Upon the usual'prepared cinder-hearth of a puddliilg or boiling furnace, heated to a bright red heat, we charge a quantity of pulverized ore, cinder, or slag, preparedas described in ourpatent No. 95,295, issued September 28, 1869, antedated September 16, 1869, with the addition only of finely-pulverized carbon or car-' bonaceous material, in amount necessary for the rem oval of all or most of theoxygen from the ore, cinder, or slag, so as to revive the iron contained therein; or,

v in amount sufiicient not only tov revive it, but to car bonize it to any desired degree. We then throw upon this charge a quantity of slag, cinder, or ore, broken into pieces of about egg-size, or smaller, and then place in the furnace, preferably upon this mass, the required auxiliary amount of cast or pig-iron for the best results, say twentyfivc to fifty per cent, more or less. A

As the heat of the furnace is raised 'to 'meltthe cast or pig-iron, the carbon in the pulverized material first introduced begins to remove the oxygen contained in the ore, cinder, or slag, thus initiating the deoxidizing or reviving of its iron, while the earthy impurities are combined with the fluxes, when such are present, and with the materials of the second charge.

'Ihe pig-iron, melting, (or it may be run-in melted from another furnace,) flows upon the mass,and is well stirred in with it, with the ordinary puddlers" tools. Boiling then-takes place, as is usual in puddling or boiling furnaces, with the combined result of the separation of the impurities from the ore and pig, and the usual action of the carbon upon the oxide of iron.

Under ccrtain conditions we dispense with the second charge, the broken ore, cinder, or slag, and find that the desired eflect is produced by the action of the fix or fettling, which, by fusion, is mingled with the pulverized mixture and cast-iron.

In our patentNo. .95,295 we described a process of making wrought iron directly from the ore, cinder, or slag.

By delicate and skilful manipulation, and careful and nice adjustment of the proper fluxes, we obtained good results in that process; but these necessary conditions being urged as objections to the general adoptionof the process, because of the present lack of the requisite skill and knowledge on the part .of workers of iron, we have made, and herewith present, an improvement in the process, against which such objections cannot be sustained. v

Unless, in the process above alluded to, the fluxes are of a character to readily combine with and remove the earthy impurities of the ore, cinder, or slag ata low heat, and unless considerable experience and skill has been attained by the workman, the minute par ticles of revived 0r carbonized iron seem to envelop and hold them entangled, especially silica or silicate of lime, so that they cannot be eliminated, or only partially so, except by exposure of the mass to high and continued heat, which not only causes a waste of iron, but demands an increased consumption of fuel and labor.

The advantages of the improvement herein claimed are, that the auxiliary molten cast-iron stirred into the mass envelops and seemingly absorbs and dissolves the particles of iron revived from the ore, cinder, or slag, while the earthyimpurities are eliminated by the process of boiling. The ore, cinder, or slag, pulverized with coal alone, without fluxes, is easily worked by. this addition of pig-iron; the slag furnished by thefettling ,orliniug of the furnace being sufficient, if not too much of the powdered material be used, to time and eliminate the earthy impurities to.the degree which is usually arrived at in the manufacture of wrought iron from pig.

We have in some instances frittcd or melted together the ore, cinder, or slag with the appropriate fluxes, preparatory to working the mixture with cast-iron, as described-above, which we have afterwards pulverized with the properproportiouof carbonaceous matter-for obtaining the'desired result. A

In the ordinary method of puddling iron, there is an excessive waste 'of the ore used for fettling or lining, about one ton of ore being consumed in the produetion of three tons'of wrought iron.

A small portion of the iron in the ore is revived by the carbon in the pig-iron, and thus partially makes the fix or fettliug by the carbon in the pulverized inaterial first thrown upon the hearth, while enough remains unaffected by the carbon to serve as a detergent of the impurities int-he mixture and cast-iron.

The general eflect of this pulverized mixture is to revive iron from all the forms and mixtures of oxide of iron that may be present in the furnace, the whole being eventually intermingled in the process of fusion and manipulation of the charge.

\Vith a certain degree of success this process-was worked in a puddling or boilipg furnace, heated in the usual manner, with all the fuel burned upon the gratebars, or heated with gases; but, for the best results, we find it preferable to employ pulverized fuel as the principal or sold agent of combustion, applied, and burned in the manner described in our patent No. 53,208, dated March 13, 1866 reissue N 0. 3,857, dated March 1,1870, and int-he form of furnace described in our patent No. 101,067, dated March 22, 1870.

The advantages of applying the pulverized-fuel process, above-alluded to, to this method of reviving iron from ore, cinder, or slag, are a great economy of fuel, and a more perfect control of the chemical action of the flame, and the degree of heat desired; but we also find that the use of a hearth composed of cinder, ore, or slag, in the manner usual in puddling orboiling furnaces, is a valuable improvement in the process of reviving iron from ore or cinder, when pulverized and mixed with carbon and fluxes, eVGlLWlll'l cast-iron is not used as an auxiliary, for reasons sufiicient-ly explained above.

.der, or slag and carbon, by the process and manipulation, and for the purpose and in the manner SllbStZlJk tially as described.

2. The combination of the process herein described, with the form of'furnace and process described in our patent No. 53,208, dated March 13, 1866; reissue No. 3,857, dated March 1, 1870, and patent No. 101,067, dated March 22, 1870.

3. The use of a'furuaceheart-h composed of cinder or oxide of iron, in combination with the process of reviving iron from ore, cinder, or slag, prepared and manipulated substantially as described.

4. The process herein described for obtaining wrought iron, the same consisting in the treatment of a mixture of either ore, cinder, or slag and carbon with cast- ;iron, substantially as set forth.

JAMES D. \VHELPLEY. JACOB J. STORER.

\Vitnesses Cumulus M. NICKERSUN, FRED W. Loner-i151. 

